Full Moon Paradise
by BerryEbilBunny
Summary: Before Jio sat beside Ruby on top of the ship that night after rescuing her, he had his own inner turmoil to battle.


**Disclaimer: I don't own O-Parts Hunter/ 666 Satan (if I did I would make it 666 Satan officially)**

"I feel like shit."

He had never felt so emotionally drained. Even rescuing Ruby only a few hours before had been a breeze in comparison to seeing Ruby in her new fighting uniform. Jio slugged about as he realized that every little thing about Ruby was now burned into the inside of his eyes, from the moment they met to her gorgeous figure he had seen only half an hour ago.

Ball watched in utter surprise at his best friend's slumped form against the doorframe, his depressing aura was completely evident as it filled the training room. Ball had been rubbing Jojomaru—much to Zero's disgust—against his face when Jio had collapsed face first into the training mat. In an amusing reaction, Ball held his "dog" high above his head while his left side scrunched up in defense towards the waves of depression rolling out from Satan's vessel. Jio raised his head to look at the head banded OPT and Zero's pupil's shrunk at the sight of Jio's withered face, he looked like a man who was prepared to die. Zero and Jojomaru ran away like animals sensing the odor of death. Ball didn't blame them yet he still yelled out at Jio after crouching down, "What happened to you!"

"Ruby…" was the dying man's grumbled reply. Confusion frosted Ball's face as he helped the white-and-black haired man up into a sitting position before plopping himself beside him, "What do you mean, man? Aren't you glad that she's back?"

Finally, Jio's face was somewhat back to normal, but he still looked highly troubled, "I am, of course I am, but at the same time I don't think I am at all. Does that make any sense to you?"

Dreadlocks shook as their owner gave out a no with scrunched eyebrows. Jio gave out an aggravated "nu" as he gave up on trying to say what he was feeling without much effort into it. Expressing himself was so much harder than denying what he said or did. He gave out an overly exaggerated sigh as he gave Ball an annoyed look. Out of slight fear, Ball felt his facial muscles twitch at the look he was being given. Wishing to clear his head, Jio stood up and walked away with a heavy heart at the newfound feelings inside of him. If only Ruby wasn't so confusing, or pretty, or nice, or selfless, or smart, or stubborn, or a million other amazing things then maybe Jio could stop being so puzzled about himself.

He just wished that everything would stop being so complicated and go back to the days when he was just a short, money-obsessed kid who tagged along with Ruby's travels. Those were the best two years of his life; he has never laughed as much since. Of course, living in the village was great, he had never been with so many nice people before but none of them could replace Ruby.

Solomon's Key tapped annoyingly against the ladder as Jio climbed up to the top.

"… and your treasure is…." Ruby sounded hurt as she reached to her collarbone where her pendent once was. Jio interrupted her thoughts as he raised his right hand, "… right here."

Jio didn't laugh as he wished but remained stoic without the set jaw he would've worn if they were talking four years ago. Ruby, as was expected, overreacted as she shouted unnecessarily at him and insulted him, rather childishly while she stuttered and pointed. Of course, she chose to beat him into an unlikely position when he made his complaint known. He really detested the abhorrent tapping sound it made when he held something hard.

Eventually, they settled down and Jio felt his heart skip a few beats when they sat down together and decided to talk like they used to. Ruby asked how it got back to him through the chaos that was Rock Bird. He thought about it for a moment before answering, he theorized, "…it probably can't get far from you. There's probably something about it."

"Are you trying to ask me out?" She teased him lightly and he felt his face go red while a drop of sweat went down the side of his temple. That was exactly what he wanted to do but never intended to actually verbalize. He was about to deny any possibility of the notion when she cut off his train of thought and killed any chance he had made to make a further fool of himself. Patiently, he listened to her speak about her father and waited for her although she spoke distantly; as if her mind was somewhere back in a memory that wasn't so distant for her. When she began to shake, the wind began to pick up and Jio stood as she spoke firmly, "…that's why he left me."

The talk about parents had given Jio a strange sense of clarity as he spoke passionately about her father and his precious parents that he had known for barely a month and he gave his statements firmly much to Ruby's surprise and didn't miss the light, unmistakable blush that colored his face as he began to cool down, "If you don't believe that you are child and parent, you are the same as two strangers."

Jio failed to notice the dusting of red on Ruby's face as she spoke impudently with her back turned to him, "I that without being told so."

Quietly, she wondered Jio had become so mature and thought quietly to herself.

The few moments of clarity had been enough for Jio to realize how badly he had missed Ruby and his old words of childish longing to Icarus; he had wished to be Ruby's lover at one point. A part of him had thought she had changed and was comforted by the thought that she was still the same girl he had declared to be his friend, colleague, and, hopefully, lover. Maybe one day all that could be possible but at least he could safely pretend under the full moon.

Unknowingly, they were being watched under the careful eyes of Amidala and Kirin.

**AN: Was it all right? Did I make too many mistakes? Please review with your thoughts and corrections.**


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